So, what did Orland Park officials learn during the current 14-month land use moratorium.
Plenty.
Staff did a lot of homework and analyzed each affected land use category to determine if code changes were needed and recommendations were made for retail mattress businesses, pawn shops/second hand stores, coffee/tea shops, breakfast restaurants, alternative financial service, grocery stores under 50,000 square feet, standalone convenience stores, jewelry stores and personal grooming establishments.
In October 2025, the board imposed a nine-month moratorium but extended it to the end of 2026. Staff then looked and compared policies and regulations from Tinley Park, Naperville, Evanston Arlington Heights and Skokie as well as some national standards for a large study.
At the Oct. 19 Committee of the Whole Meeting Development Service Director Steve Marciani made a presentation explaining numerous potential changes.
Some of the highlights include:
- Reducing the number of parking space requirements for furniture stores and separate furniture stores with showrooms and those without.
- Creating a separate land use classification for secondhand stores.
- With 27 coffee/tea shops in town and four more coming, Marciani said that over the years, consumers have been spending more time in them and would like to break them out as a separate use from restaurants and increase the parking requirements.
- Breakfast restaurants are designated at those that close by 3 p.m. and not regular full-service restaurants that happen to serve breakfast.
- Requiring a special use permit for convenience stores and evaluating items sold in them and determining if current business license regulations require updating.
- Marciani said the 20 jewelry stores in the village are “super-duper clustered but that’s not a bad thing” and he says they should be put into a separate category.
- Establishing definitions for barbershops, salons and salon suite establishments.
- Establishing definitions of day care centers and learning centers.
For those and other recommendations, Marciani said it will be taken to the Plan Commission for a public hearing on Nov. 17 and brought to the Board of Trustees meeting on Dec. 7.
If it’s all passed by the board, the moratorium will end on Dec. 31 and the code amendments go into effect on Jan. 1.
